Oral history interview with John D. Mosser

Oral history interview with John D. Mosser [Sound Recording 01] Oral history interview with John D. Mosser [Sound Recording 02] Oral history interview with John D. Mosser [Sound Recording 03] Oral history interview with John D. Mosser [Sound Recording 04] Oral history interview with John D. Mosser [Sound Recording 05] Oral history interview with John D. Mosser [Sound Recording 06] Oral history interview with John D. Mosser [Sound Recording 07] Oral history interview with John D. Mosser [Sound Recording 08] Oral history interview with John D. Mosser [Sound Recording 09] Oral history interview with John D. Mosser [Sound Recording 10] Oral history interview with John D. Mosser [Sound Recording 11] Oral history interview with John D. Mosser [Sound Recording 12] Oral history interview with John D. Mosser [Sound Recording 13] Oral history interview with John D. Mosser [Sound Recording 14] Oral history interview with John D. Mosser [Sound Recording 15] Oral history interview with John D. Mosser [Sound Recording 16] Oral history interview with John D. Mosser [Sound Recording 17] Oral history interview with John D. Mosser [Sound Recording 18] Oral history interview with John D. Mosser [Sound Recording 19] Oral history interview with John D. Mosser [Sound Recording 20] Oral history interview with John D. Mosser [Sound Recording 21] Oral history interview with John D. Mosser [Sound Recording 22] Oral history interview with John D. Mosser [Sound Recording 23] Oral history interview with John D. Mosser [Sound Recording 24] Oral history interview with John D. Mosser [Sound Recording 25] Oral history interview with John D. Mosser [Sound Recording 26] Oral history interview with John D. Mosser [Transcript]

Identity elements

Reference code

SR 1122

Name and location of repository

Level of description

Series

Title

Oral history interview with John D. Mosser

Date(s)

  • 1990-11-15 - 1990-12-11 (Creation)

Extent

.1 cubic feet 13 audiocassettes (12 hr., 51 min., 38 sec.)

Name of creator

Biographical history

John Daniel Mosser was born in Illinois in 1923 and grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. He attended Princeton, but was called to active duty in the Army in 1943. He fought in the European theater during World War II, primarily in France. He returned to Princeton after the war and graduated in 1947. He met Priscilla Alexander on a blind date, and they married in 1948; they had later four children. After Princeton, Mosser studied law at Yale. Soon after his graduation, the young family moved to Oregon in 1950, and Mosser practiced law in Portland. He was a Republican and represented Washington County in the Oregon House of Representatives in 1957, and again from 1963 to 1966. He led the clean-up of the Willamette River and was involved in the creation of Tom McCall Waterfront Park in Portland, Oregon. He left the Republican Party in 1973 as a result of the Watergate scandal, becoming an Independent instead. He died in 1996.

Name of creator

Biographical history

Content and structure elements

Scope and content

This oral history interview with John D. Mosser was conducted by Clark Hansen at Mosser's home in Portland, Oregon, from November 15 to December 11, 1990. In this interview, Mosser discusses his family background and early life in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. He talks about attending Princeton and working on the school newspaper, as well as his service in the U.S. Army during World War II, which interrupted his education. He details his experience fighting on the front lines in France. He discusses studying law at Yale, his marriage to Priscilla Alexander, and coming to Oregon to practice law, primarily admiralty law, in 1950.

Mosser discusses his involvement with the Republican Party and his legislative service in the Oregon House of Representatives in 1957, including his campaign. He discusses legislation he worked on, particularly on education. He then discusses his activities before he re-entered the Legislature in 1963, including lobbying and raising a family. He goes on to talk about his return to the Oregon House of Representatives from 1963 to 1966. He discusses additional education legislation that he worked on, as well as legislation on taxes, labor, and land use. He speaks at length about the many legislators he worked with, particularly Vera Katz and Vic Atiyeh. He discusses his reasons for leaving the Legislature and his subsequent activities, including serving on the Board of Education and the Land Conservation and Development Commission, continuing his law practice, and leaving the Republican Party. He discusses serving on the Portland Waterfront Commission in the late 1960s, and his involvement in the creation of Tom McCall Waterfront Park. He closes the interview by talking about his family.

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use elements

Conditions governing access

Copyright held by the Oregon Historical Society. Licensed under Creative Commons, BY-NC-SA: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Physical access

Technical access

Conditions governing reproduction

Languages of the material

  • English

Scripts of the material

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Finding aids

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Notes element

General note

Preferred citation: Oral history interview with John D. Mosser, by Clark Hansen, SR 1122, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

General note

Forms part of the Oregon Legislature Oral History Series.

Specialized notes

Alternative identifier(s)

Description control element

Rules or conventions

Finding aid based on DACS (Describing Archives: A Content Standard), 2nd Edition.

Sources used

Archivist's note

Sarah Stroman

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Accession area